Graduate Program Affiliations

Individual projection neurons as labeled by MARCM analysis. Projection neurons are the output neurons for the antennal lobe, and carry olfactory information to higher processing centers, like the mushroom body and lateral horn.

Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes use their sense of smell to find a human host. Our lab is investigating the mosquito olfactory system, and how mosquitoes distinguish humans from other animals.

Neural Circuits Required for Insect Olfaction

A pivotal area of neuroscience is to understand how sensory information from the external environment is received, processed, and interpreted by the brain. For example, why does an apple smell like an apple, and an orange like an orange? Why do we find the odorant vanilla pleasant, but are repelled by the odorant cadaverine? Our ability to ‘smell’ different odors is tightly linked to our sense of odor perception. Yet little is known about how odor perception is processed in the brain.

My lab functions at an intersection between systems and cellular neuroscience. We are interested in how neurons and circuits function in the brain to achieve a common goal (olfaction), but we also develop, utilize, and build tools (molecular and genetic) that allow us to directly alter neuronal functions in a living organism. We then determine how our neuronal manipulations have altered the behavior of an animal.

The focus of my laboratory is to understand how the insect brain receives, interprets, and responds to odors. Insects rely on their sense of smell for all major life choices, from foraging to mating, from choosing where to lay eggs to avoiding predators and dangers. We are interested in understanding at the neuronal level how odors regulate these behaviors.

Our long-term aim is to apply this knowledge to better control insects that pose a threat to human health. Our general approach towards achieving this goal is to link neuron function with olfactory-guided behaviors by developing and employing new genetic methods that enable unprecedented control over neural circuits in both the model organism Drosophila melanogaster and human vector Anopheles gambiae.

We are always looking for motivated graduate students, so if any of the above sounds interesting, email me to learn more about the lab. Or visit our lab webpage.